Newsletter

Mexico slow to start on border bridge near El Paso

EL PASO — One year after plans were announced, a border bridge project between West Texas and the Mexican state of Chihuahua has not begun on the southern side of the Rio Grande.

Construction of the long-awaited Tornillo bridge, aimed at relieving congested cargo traffic lanes between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, started on the U.S. side in July.

The 117-acre port of entry is scheduled to open for cross-border traffic in June 2013 at a cost of $96 million. The plan on the Mexican side is to build a 60-acre facility and highways to connect the bridge to Ciudad Juarez, which is one of the major industrial centers in Mexico, specializing in assembly plants.

During the July 2011 groundbreaking ceremony in the U.S., Chihuahua governor Cesar Duarte said that work on the Mexican side of the border would begin in September that year. The Transport and Communications Department in Mexico City did not immediately reply to a request Monday for information on whether the Mexican government still plans to finish the bridge.

J.D. Salinas, a regional administrator with the U.S. General Services Administration, which builds and manages government facilities, said in July 2011 that the new port of entry will connect major industrial hubs in Mexico and the United States. GSA and Customs and Border Protection will manage the project.

Located 40 miles east of El Paso, the port of entry is intended handle the trucks going to the eastern U.S. that currently have to wait up to two hours at the El Paso border.

However, construction crews are only on the U.S. side of the border. Cement columns have been poured and are waiting for the bridge’s concrete beams. Currently, this border crossing has a 1920s-era wooden bridge that can only support pedestrian and light-vehicle traffic.

Sally Mayberry, a GSA public affairs officer, said that “it is not unusual that time tables to build something like this are different. GSA is confident that Mexico will meet its obligation.”

Mayberry also said that the delay is not something to be concerned about at this moment.

Ernesto Carrizal, El Paso County’s director of public words, says he has been told by the General Services Administration that Mexico remains committed to the project. In his presentation to the commissioners, Carrizal said Monday that phases on the U.S. side are anywhere from 40 percent to 90 percent completed. He also said that projects on the Mexican side usually start late and still finish on time.

In fiscal year 2010, the Fabens Port of Entry, as the border crossing in Tornillo is currently known, processed 51,171 pedestrians and more than 390,000 cars.